Late autumn arrived, and the weather suddenly turned cold.
Even martial artists, before reaching the Innate realm, had to endure the hardships of heat and cold.
Zhang Yu changed into a black satin-lined lambskin robe worth thirty taels of silver.
Perhaps this was one of the advantages of being a martial artist. With strength, one would never remain poor for long.
The gains from the Huang family that day had been substantial. After distributing some of it to the imprisoned women and the Meixi Village villagers who had suffered severe exploitation, he still had eighty taels of gold and two thousand in banknotes left.
So many people entered the martial world and painstakingly trained their martial arts. Wasn't it all for the sake of fame and fortune?
Three days earlier, Blackwood Cliff had issued an order throughout the sect: In mourning for the deaths of a thousand disciples from Cloud Water Hall, and to commemorate the disastrous defeat at Damaoling on Mount Heng, Eastern Cult Master had decided to postpone the Sun Moon Divine Cult's grand ceremony, held once every three years, for another three years. It would resume only after their shame had been avenged.
Once this order was issued, the Sun Moon Divine Cult was greatly invigorated. It seemed that the diligent and ambitious Holy Cult Master had returned, and the martial world was sure to be swept up in another storm of bloodshed.
Downstream from Gorilla Beach, within the reed marshes.
The rocks along the beachhead were crimson as blood, while white fluff drifted through the air.
Whenever a gentle breeze stirred, the white fluff changed direction, its path impossible to predict.
Zhang Yu paced across the rocky beach while dodging the reed fluff falling from the sky.
Doing both at once was no easy task.
After increasing the difficulty of his training, he fell more than two hundred times before gradually getting the hang of it. Now, only a very small amount of white fluff could still land on his robe.
Unlike most lightness skills, which required one to focus on breaking through the acupoints in the legs, the Internal Energy of the Flying Cloud Divine Skill originated from Yongquan and circulated throughout the body, aiming to improve overall agility.
It was like switching from a directional reconnaissance radar to full-body sensing, allowing him to respond rapidly.
External arts were generally divided into seven realms: initiation, proficiency, mastery, minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, perfection, and transcendent mastery.
Once the footwork of Flowing Clouds and Water became proficient, it could be used for travel. With his current cultivation, he could cover fifty li in an hour at full speed.
However, in actual combat, anyone with even a little experience in the martial world would never do this.
If he charged ahead without restraint and happened to exhaust his Internal Energy upon encountering an enemy, wouldn't he suffer a great disadvantage?
"It's time to break through."
In the Dan Energy realm, apart from reaching perfection, the technique of Condensing Qi into Arrows and Piercing a Single Point required considerable aptitude, insight, and constant practice. Everything before that was merely a slow accumulation of Internal Energy.
He had been capable of breaking through to the middle stage of Dan Energy half a month ago. However, he had deliberately allowed himself time to settle his cultivation so that his Internal Energy would become purer while he practiced his footwork. Now that both plans had been achieved, this was the perfect time to break through.
Reeds surrounded him, and the surroundings were tranquil.
Zhang Yu recalled the scene from the night he opened his Dantian, when the woman in green had stood watch nearby. A trace of longing involuntarily rose in his heart.
The Mount Hua Sect and the Sun Moon Divine Cult were mortal enemies. The relationship between a female heroine of the Righteous Path and a flag master of the Demonic Cult was like something from a storybook.
"I wonder how she's doing after returning to Mount Hua?"
He put on the Green Jade Thumb Ring and sat cross-legged on a slab of blue rock. He placed his black sword within easy reach in case anything went wrong.
Within the Golden Pool Dantian, a layer of mist rose.
Soaked by the mist, fine cracks quietly appeared in the shell of the Purple Gold Lotus Seed, while the tender sprout gathered strength to push its way out.
This was the wondrous aspect of the Golden Pool Dantian.
Looking across a century of the martial world, there had been no more than ten martial artists known throughout the land to possess a Golden Pool. Those who had not died along the way had at least been able to reach the pinnacle of the full Innate realm and become major figures of the martial world.
In the previous generation of the martial world, there had been only a handful: Ren Woxing of the Sun Moon Divine Cult, Chongxu of Wudang, the abbot of the Dragon-Nurturing Temple in the Western Regions, and the leader of the Wala Tribe under the Wolf Court north of the desert.
"A Golden Pool Dantian has only appeared in two people in the current age."
"Linghu Chong, the Mount Hua Sect's eldest disciple, and Chen Lingyue, Wudang's junior grand-uncle, have already become famous throughout the martial world."
"When will I, Zhang Yu, become known throughout the land?"
For some reason, after putting on the Green Jade Thumb Ring today, Zhang Yu's state of mind failed to become completely clear.
His heart should have been like the Mirror Stand, free of dust, yet today it seemed as though several pieces of reed fluff had fallen upon it, making them impossible to brush away.
"Clear the mind and Embrace Origin and Maintain Unity."
"Clear the mind and Embrace Origin and Maintain Unity."
"Clear the mind and Embrace Origin and Maintain Unity."
He took a deep breath and began focusing his thoughts, mobilizing the Internal Energy within the Golden Pool.
Everything followed its natural course. His Internal Energy broke through the Left Shaoyin Heart Meridian, passing through the nine major acupoints of Jiquan, Qingling, Shaohai, Lingdao, Tongli, Yinxi, Shenmen, Shaofu, and Shaochong in succession. It was utterly unstoppable.
Following the main meridian back into his Dantian, part of the mist became denser. Amid collisions with his scorching blood qi, it gradually condensed into droplets of water.
Two hours later.
More than half the mist within the Golden Pool Dantian had transformed into water, symbolizing that his Internal Energy had undergone further refinement.
"From opening my Dantian to breaking through to the middle stage of Dan Energy, I wonder whether that was fast or slow."
Zhang Yu opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air. Sensing that both the quantity and quality of his Internal Energy had improved considerably, he secretly rejoiced.
"Hm?"
The moment Zhang Yu rose to his feet, he suddenly felt the world spin. His head throbbed as though it were splitting apart.
Immediately afterward, countless scenes flashed continuously through his mind like drawings on a long scroll.
Endless vexation welled up within him, and his thoughts tangled together like a ball of thread...
Beneath Damaoling, corpses covered the ground at Cloud Water Hall, and Wang Liyu's face was filled with unwillingness.
In an unnamed mountain, Wu Lianjiang's regret and entrustment before his death.
Beside the Flowing Gold River, where the lamplight was dim, the girl in green's tears and laughter.
Tong Baixiong's scheming beneath his rough exterior, and Qi Zhaogu's words left unspoken after getting drunk.
Yang Lianting's sinister cruelty in Chengde Hall.
The inscrutable Eastern Cult Master behind the purple pearl curtain.
The final madness of Huang Wencai, the tyrant of Meixi Village.
What set humans apart from grass and trees was their endless thoughts.
Joy and anger, sorrow and happiness, love and hatred, grudges and passions—all that had happened before and everything yet to come became thoughts.
Now, all these thoughts surged forth at once, like a flood bursting through a dam.
"Ah!" Zhang Yu felt as though his head were about to explode.
Only then did he understand that whenever he used the Green Jade Thumb Ring, he could effortlessly achieve the clear state of mind and Embrace Origin and Maintain Unity that others yearned for. He could even enter a state of meditation. But those distracting thoughts had not vanished; they had merely been temporarily held back beyond the sea of his mind.
The longer he used the Green Jade Thumb Ring each time, the deeper it constricted his flesh, serving as a reminder.
There were simply too many distracting thoughts, and they had already reached the limit the Green Jade Thumb Ring could bear.
Reeds flew into the sky one after another, and white fluff scattered everywhere, as though a sudden snowstorm had been whipped up across the plain.
To ease the agony in his mind, Zhang Yu instinctively swung his long sword, as if he could cut down all those reeds.
Yet the reeds seemed just like the distracting thoughts in his heart. One crop after another fell, but no matter how he hacked and slashed, he could never cut them all down.
After an unknown length of time, even the little clarity he possessed was beginning to blur when he heard an anxious voice.
"Zhang Yu, what's wrong?"
"Miss, please step back. This man must have run into trouble while practicing. It seems like... he's gone berserk."
"Sister Xiaochai, your lightness skill is good. Hurry back to Blackwood Cliff and ask Grandpa to come."
"What is this man's identity? Trouble the Right Protector for this? I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate."
"He's my friend!"
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